The Technological Foundations of E-Government

Sukumar Ganapati

Book Chapter for:Electronic Government: Information, Technology, and Transformation[Foundations of E-Government section]

Edited by Hans J. Scholl

Publisher:ME Sharpe, Armonk, NY[Advances in Management Information Systems (AMIS) series]

Author:Sukumar GanapatiAssistant ProfessorSchool of Public Administration (PCA 363B)College of Social Work, Justice, and Public AffairsFlorida International UniversityMiami, FL 33199Email: ganapati@fiu.eduFax: 305-348-5848

Biographical Sketch

Dr. Sukumar Ganapati is an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Administration at Florida

International University. He teaches graduate courses in Information Technology and E-

government in the school. He has also taught courses in Geographic Information Systems

(GIS). He has undertaken several IT projects at both local and international levels. These

include the Access Indonesia project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education.

Chapter # (TBD)

The Technological Foundations of E-Government

Sukumar Ganapati

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the technological foundations of e-government. IT

practitioners need to be aware of alternative technological choices in their strategic decision

making. The current e-government literature has focused mainly on Web based services.

Besides Web, four additional related areas of interest are identified in this chapter: IP based

services, Sensor based services, Location based services, and Broadband Infrastructure. The

technological principles underlying the five areas and their applications for e-government are

identified.

Keywords: Web services; IP services; RFID; GIS; Broadband Infrastructure

This chapter provides an overview of the technological foundations of e-government. Garson

(2006, p. 19) defines e-government as the “provision of governmental services by electronic

means, usually over the Internet.” Although Internet is indeed at the core of e-government, there

are several related technological areas that are often overlooked in considering e-government

applications. Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Information Technology (IT) managers need

to be aware of such technological choices in their strategic decision making. Understanding the

strengths and weaknesses of these emerging technological alternatives is important for

adopting the newer technologies; else, these choices are made on an ad hoc basis.

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Due to its emphasis on Internet use, the e-government literature has focused on the

development of Web based services. However, besides Web based services, at least four

additional related areas of interest for e-government could be identified. These are: (i) Internet

Protocol (IP) based services; (ii) Sensor based services; (iii) Location based services; and (iv)

Broadband Infrastructure. The technology in the above areas is rapidly evolving. Practitioners,

policymakers, and researchers of e-government have to often play catch up in dealing with

these technological developments. Yet, the literature focusing on these technologies and their

implications for e-government applications is thin. The present chapter aims to fill this gap.

Consequently, the chapter discusses the five areas with a technological view on their prospects

and problems for e-government. While the five areas hold prospects for e-government, each is

not entirely standalone. Indeed, systems spanning one or more of these areas are at the cutting

edge of e-government in the 21st century. However, the interconnections between the systems

also bring up the issues of security and interoperability.

The rest of the chapter is structured as follows. The second section reviews the state of the art

of technology in e-government. Sections 3 through 7 describe the advancements in the five

technological areas mentioned before. The fourth section concludes with the problems and

prospects of technological developments for e-government.

2. THE STATE OF THE ART OF TECHNOLOGY IN E-GOVERNMENT

Electronic government or e-government capitalizes on the advances in computer and

communications technology since World War II. Computer technology enabled large scale

storage (i.e. memory) and mathematical (e.g. calculations, logic) capability. Since the World

War II, computers have evolved from room-sized equipments based on vacuum tubes to small

sized desktop and laptop machines based on transistors in microprocessor chips.

Communications technology enabled the networking between computers, i.e. the Internet. The

technology has also evolved significantly since World War II, from copper wire based landline

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phone systems to optical fiber cables and wireless based communication systems. The

combination of computer and communications technology has enhanced the ability to

disseminate information in real time, to increase efficiency of routine chores, and to collaborate

between different actors.

Technological advances of computer and communications technology have occurred faster than

the changes in the industrial era. Alvin Toffler (1970) referred to the too much change in too

short a period of time from industrial to the super-industrial society as “future shock.” Unlike the

industrial era changes, however, the technological evolution has not been at the cost of

affordability. Gordon Moore, a co-founder of Intel, predicted as early as 1965 that the number of

transistors on a microprocessor chip will double approximately every two years at inexpensive

rates. Moore’s Law, as the prophecy has come to be known, is more broadly applied to other

features of computer and communications technology too. Networks, which were for elite use in

defense (i.e. ARPANET) and research (i.e. BITNET) institutions, have become more widely

accessible through proliferation of private Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Greater affordability

of computers and communications technology has been conducive to the growth of e-

government in the public sector and e-commerce in the private sector. Although some forms of

digital divide persist (Servon, 2002), the divide has been narrowing on several aspects (e.g.

between racial, gender, and income groups). According to Pew Internet Research (Horrigan,

2007), 71 percent of American adults use Internet from some location.

The growth of Internet has contributed to the Web becoming the base for e-government. The

Web has facilitated information dissemination, public interactivity, electronic transactions, and

even organizational transformation. Indeed, Web based services have attracted much attention

in the e-government literature. However, there are at least four additional related areas of

technology that have impacted e-government processes. These areas include: Internet Protocol

(IP) based services; Sensor based services; Location based services; and Broadband

Infrastructure. IP based services are similar to Web-based services in being dependent on the

computer and communications technology infrastructure. However, there is a difference in the

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scope between the two: while Web-based services are delivered through browsers, the IP

based services are broader (e.g. for voice communications, video conferencing, etc.). Sensor

devices like Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags can identify objects uniquely and can be

read automatically from a remote location. Services based on such sensor devices are used for

identification, inventory tracking, and supply chain management. Location based services are

explicitly oriented towards geographical mapping and location of persons or objects; these

services are significant for e-government since they describe the spatial characteristics.

Broadband infrastructure does not refer to services per se, but the backbone that supports e-

government services. The infrastructure is critical for augmenting e-government services.

The above five areas are not entirely stand-alone. Web and IP based services can be easily

integrated. Web services also incorporate the location based services, such as GIS and GPS.

When combined with GPS, RFID and wireless devices (e.g. cellphones) become powerful tools

for location on the field. These devices can also be connected using the Internet to relay the

information over the Web. Transportation agencies use such interconnectivity between systems

for traffic management, including real time traffic alerts. A driver with a GPS device in the car,

for example, can gauge the traffic ahead based on his/ her location. Indeed, the

interconnectivity between the systems is at the cutting edge of e-government.

The interconnectivity between the systems also brings up problematic issues, such as security

and interoperability. IP based services, for example, are open to the same security threats as

the Web based services. RFID devices, if not properly managed, are vulnerable to security

threats. Moreover, the technological standards between the systems could differ; or they could

run under proprietary systems that are incompatible with other systems. This brings up the issue

of interoperability between the systems, for the devices to communicate with each other. In the

following sections, the technological foundations of the five areas are considered first, and then

their prospects and problems for e-government are explored.

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3. WEB BASED SERVICES

The Internet technology has enabled the growth of Web based systems for information

dissemination and email systems for communication between people since the early 1990s. At

its very basic, the Web based system consists of a server computer, which is a publicly

accessible repository of information (e.g. content, documents, databases), and a client

computer, which accesses (i.e. reads) the information in the server. The email systems allow

private transmission of messages and documents between computers over the Internet. The

systems have since evolved into complex ones. Web portals, for example, make use of multiple

servers to serve Web pages; content and applications could be distributed across the servers

and mirror one server’s content on another for contingency (e.g. if one server went down,

another will serve the same information) or speed (e.g. to balance load between servers during

times of excessive demands).

The current Web 2.0 technologies in the 21st century are distinctive from the Web 1.0

applications of the 1990s. Web 1.0 was related to basic information dissemination through static

Web pages (e.g. using Hyper Text Markup Language, HTML) and basic database manipulation

for dynamic Web pages (e.g. using Structured Query Language, SQL). This generation of Web

served customary information published and owned by the producers with hyperlinks to other

Web pages of related interest. In the Web 2.0 era, the usage of Extensible Markup Language

(XML) is more prevalent than HTML. XML facilitates the sharing of structured data and allows

for serving dynamic content over the Web. O’Reilly (2005) outlined several characteristics of

currently evolving Web 2.0 technologies:

(i) they treat the Web as a platform rather than as a base for singular applications (e.g.

mashups, which overlay information from multiple Web sources into one Web service

using Application Programming Interfaces (APIs); peer to peer networking such as

Napster and KaZaA, where client machines are used to act as servers for deploying

information);

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(ii) they harness collective intelligence (e.g. through blogs, wikis, podcasts, and social

networking sites);

(iii) data ownership is a key element;

(iv) their softwares are not end products—they are services that are continually

developed;

(v) they use lightweight programs that build on existing Web platforms, rather than using

proprietary programs;

(vi) their software can be used across devices.

The literature on the prospects and problems of Web-based services for e-government is rich.

There are four stages of Web based services in e-government: (i) Web presence, in which

governments deploy basic information about themselves on the Web; (ii) Web interaction, which

includes interactive features between government decision-makers and citizens (e.g. through

emails, interactive dialog boxes); (iii) Web transaction, in which various government transactions

such as procurement, contracting, payment are processed through the Web; and (iv) Web

transformation, where public organizations are themselves transformed from hierarchical,

stovepipe model to horizontal, collaborative model.

Government agencies have made remarkable strides in the usage of Web services. Although

information dissemination is at the core of the Web services, interactivity is also increasingly

being used. Email has displaced traditional snail mail to become a dominant mode of contacting

senators and other policymakers. Social networking sites like MySpace are used by political

candidates for outreach to the younger constituency for votes. Federal sites such as

regulations.gov allow for public participation in the federal rulemaking process by enabling

citizens to view and comment on regulations and other actions for federal agencies. Web

transactions such as renewal of driving license, payment of fines, checking on the status of an

application, etc. could be done online. According to West (2007), 86 percent of federal and state

websites have fully executable online services. In terms of Web transformation, spillover

activities that span several departments are centralized through the Web using cross agency

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portals. The first government portal, usa.gov, combined the services from different departments

under one portal. Other examples include: grants.gov, which is a central repository for federal

grants and for streamlining grants management; usajobs.gov, which is dedicated to federal jobs.

Such sites eschew the traditional stovepipe models of government agencies and transform them

into horizontal networks. There is also a convergence of government websites to be arranged

according to the audience needs, rather than specific department functions. In this, websites are

typically arranged for four audience categories: citizens, businesses, employees, and visitors.

Web services could be classified into four categories: government to citizen (G2C) services;

government to business (G2B) services; government to government (G2G) services; and intra-

governmental services (IG). G2C services focus on citizen demanded government services (e.g.

driving licenses, birth certificates, etc.) which could be carried out through the Web, rather than

face to face interactions with the bureaucracy. G2B services focus on business oriented

government services (e.g. business licenses, local taxes) that can be carried out over the Web.

G2G services act between different levels of government for intergovernmental transactions, to

meet reporting requirements, and for performance measurement. IG services are back office

employee oriented and internal management services specific to the agency.

A few government agencies—especially at the federal level—have adapted to the Web 2.0

environment. For example, podcasts and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds are available

from most federal websites. The podcasts provide department specific videos and RSS feeds

provide latest announcements or policy developments (similar to latest news). Blogs have

increasingly gained significance in American politics. They have become powerful tools for

political activism, public participation, and campaign communication (Lawson-Borders and Kirk,

2005). A few government sponsored blogs have also emerged (e.g. U.S. Department of State’s

Dipnote, which provides an alternative source to mainstream media reporting on American

foreign policy). A potent aspect of e-government in terms of Web 2.0 is the proprietary

ownership of large amounts of data that is collected by different agencies from individual

citizens and businesses on a mandatory basis. The data enables governments to create profiles

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of different entities through data mining techniques. Indeed, data mining has emerged as a key

concern of federal government agencies for different purposes, ranging from improving service

to analyzing and detecting terrorism activities (GAO, 2004).

The use of Web-based services is prone to hacking, snooping, and other security breaches, and

attacks by spy worms and viruses. Consequently, sensitive government data could be

compromised. Although email has become a staple for communications, phishing emails

mislead citizens and government officials alike; unwanted emails (i.e. spam) is also a standing

problem. Moreover, public sector email communications are generally not private; hence,

private emails could become available to the public domain.

4. IP BASED SERVICES

Similar to Web based services, IP based services draw on the Internet technology.

Fundamentally, these services rest on the Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol

(TCP/ IP) standard, the most widely used standard for networking between computers. TCP/ IP

represents a significant advancement over traditional phone networks. Traditional phones use

circuit switching, which uses a dedicated circuit (or channel) between nodes and terminals for

communication. The circuit is not available to other users until it is released. However, TCP/ IP

systems use packet switching, which do not use dedicated circuits. Rather, data from the

sending device is broken down into small packets and transmitted over the Internet using the

best available route; the packets are then reassembled at the receiver’s device. TCP/IP thus

represents a more efficient use of network bandwidth. The network can balance the

transmission load across various pieces of equipment, and if a problem occurs with an

equipment, the data could be re-routed over another equipment in the network. Packet

switching has lowered the cost of communications, enabled new services and features,

expanded network resiliency, and enhanced consumer choice. Various IP based services have

emerged as a result besides the Web based services. Such services include the Voice over

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Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). These services, however,

require broadband (i.e. high bandwidth, like DSL, cable, or T1) rather than dial-up connections

to perform efficiently.

The most significant among IP based services is the VoIP, which has become a popular

alternative to traditional phone systems. According to Telegeography (2007), the number of

VoIP subscribers increased from 6.5 million in mid-2006 to 11.8 million in mid-2007. The

increase in popularity is due to cost and other advantages. For residential consumers, VoIP

rates are generally lower than traditional phones. For enterprises, deploying VoIP is estimated

to be one-third the cost of traditional phone systems; operating costs could be 50-60 percent

less. VoIP also has other advantages, such as sophisticated messaging and conferencing

applications and simplified management. VoIP represents a convergence of data, voice, and

video (Triple Play) using the same broadband network. Email and phone conversations are thus

transmitted on the same network. Consequently, email and voice mail queues could be merged

to make either type of message retrievable by phone or computer. VoIP’s voice services work

over the computer, a special VoIP phone, or traditional phones. While using the computer, one

requires a microphone and software to process the voice; the special VoIP phones plug into the

broadband connection directly; the traditional phones require a VoIP adapter. Skype, which is

used by residential customers and businesses, provide both voice and video connections using

peer to peer networking. People with Skype accounts can call each other for free regardless of

their location; they pay a fee when calling a phone. VoIP services for residential and business

use are also provided by ISPs, phone, and cable companies. Several vendors of VoIP have

emerged for enterprise wide solutions, notable among them being Alcatel, Avaya, Cisco, Nortel,

Mitel, Siemens, and so on. Federal agencies such as the Department of Defense, Department

of Commerce, Social Security Agency have adopted VoIP to provide a unified and

comprehensive range of services. Several states, counties, and cities have also jumped into the

bandwagon of VoIP technology. In particular, government agencies with call centers (e.g. 311,

511, 911 systems) that have to field many phone inquiries could find it expedient to implement

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VoIP. Indeed, following incidents like the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and Hurricane

Katrina, when emergency communications between first responders failed, there have been

calls for an IP-based nationwide 911 system. Unlike traditional telephone systems that fall under

state regulation, VoIP falls directly under the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC)

jurisdiction; hence, VoIP norms are uniform nationwide.

The implementation of VoIP, however, is not without its problems. Reviewing the security

considerations of VoIP, the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) observed,

“Because of the integration of voice and data in a single network, establishing a secure VOIP

and data network is a complex process that requires greater effort than that required for data-

only networks” (Kuhn et al, 2005, p. 5). VoIP is time-critical, where time-lag between packets of

voice transmitted between source and destination could result in lower Quality of Service (QoS)

than that in data transmission. At the same time, VoIP is vulnerable to the same security

problems as other systems that depend on the Internet (e.g. worms, which can compromise

servers). Hence, similar to data networks, the VoIP services also need to be protected with

software and hardware devices (e.g. firewalls, antivirus protection, and intrusion detection

systems). However, the implementation of security measures could deteriorate the VoIP’s QoS,

including latency (greater time taken for a voice transmission from the source to destination),

jitter (non-uniform packet delays, particularly due to low bandwidth), packet loss, and Denial of

Service (DoS). Another major issue is that not all VoIP services connect directly to 911

emergency services. Skype, for example, cannot be used to call 911. The FCC imposed 911

obligations on providers of VoIP services, particularly those that allow users to make calls to

and receive calls from the regular telephone network. In addition, the FCC requires

interconnected VoIP providers to comply with the Communications Assistance for Law

Enforcement Act of 1994 (CALEA), which allows law enforcement officials to wiretap digital

telephone networks.

Similar to VoIP, IPTV also uses the IP network, but delivers television and video services. Being

IP based, IPTV is unlike traditional TV and Cable. In the traditional TV, users have to tune in to

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channels. The content is constantly delivered by the provider to each customer, who then

selects the content to watch. In an IP network, only the content selected by the consumer is

delivered. This selective delivery frees up bandwidth, thus allowing for significantly more content

and functionality. For example, IPTV provides picture-in-picture functionality for channel surfing

without leaving an existing program; it allows downloading of photos or music from personal

computers. IPTV is related to Internet TV (ITV) since both are Internet based. However, ITV

consists mainly of Web-based video streaming. IPTV is not solely Web based and often

requires additional software and hardware (e.g. set-top box) for high quality video. Youtube is a

prime example of ITV, where people upload videos and are accessible to the general public.

IPTV is used for both live TV and Video On Demand (VOD). Live TV (including synchorous

communications like web-conferences, distance learning, corporate communications) use

multicasting, which is a bandwidth-conserving technology to reduce traffic by simultaneously

delivering a single stream of information to many recipients. VOD uses streaming of content for

real time viewing, or downloading the content for later viewing. In live TV, the size of data is not

known a priori and could be infinite; in VOD, the video is a pre-recorded finite file. Motorola,

Seachange, Tut, Verimatrix are some of the leading IPTV vendors (Multimedia Research Group,

2007).

In combination with VoIP, the consumer base of IPTV is projected to grow exponentially,

according to various industry analysts such as Infonetics, Insight Research Corporation, and

Multimedia Research Group (New Millennium Research Council, 2006). IPTV has become a

staple medium for viewing games. Major League Baseball has been offering streaming video

since 2002; the 2006 FIFA World Championship was also viewed using IPTV throughout the

world. In 2006, the Earth Day Network and Communications Technology (ComTek) partnered to

offer a live, two-way IPTV broadcast to 16,000 high school and college classrooms in the U.S.

Students could view the broadcast through a Web, email questions to environmental experts

and religious leaders, and have two-way communications through VoIP. In 2005, the IEEE

Spectrum magazine predicted IPTV to be a technology winner since it can use relatively low-

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speed broadband through telephone wires, rather than a requiring more costly optical fiber

upgrade (Alfonsi, 2005). Public sector enterprises that depend on legacy copper network for

telephones could thus use IPTV with little loss of QoS.

IPTV has much potential for government applications. First responder solutions could be

distributed community wide through video and interactive communications for public safety in

emergency situations. IPTV could be used as interactive channels for community broadcasting

of municipal meetings. Interactive video, voice, and data could be used for distance learning

and off-site training sessions (e.g. Webinars). Special interest virtual conferences (e.g.

Webcasts) could be held using IPTV. The scope of political debates could be also enhanced

through the interactive capabilities. Youtube, for example, was used to field questions for

Democratic Presidential candidates in the debate held in Charleston in July, 2007. Lastly, IPTV

could be used for telemedicine, wherein doctors can monitor and treat patients interactively from

remote locations.

5. SENSOR BASED SERVICES

Sensors are devices that respond to an environmental stimulus (such as heat, light, sound,

pressure, magnetism, or motion). For example, motion detectors are sensors that respond to

any movement in the area of their coverage, and issue security alerts in case of an

unauthorized intrusion. Other common sensors include cameras, scanners, lasers, radar

systems, thermal devices, seismographs, etc. Among these, Radio Frequency Identification

(RFID) systems have gained significance for e-government, and hold much potential for future

use. Hence, this section focuses mainly on RFID devices. Although the technology of using

radio frequencies is not new, RFIDs gained popularity in commercial and government

applications only in the late 1990s. RFID has grown by leaps and bounds since then. The

number of RFID devices doubled to 1.2 billion units between 2005 and 2006; they are expected

to reach 700 billion units by 2015 (Bevan, 2007).

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RFID is an automatic identification technology using tags and readers to capture data about

objects. The RFID tag typically contains a unique identification code that can be attached to

objects and living beings. The code can be read by the reader using radio waves. The RFID tag

represents a revolutionary change over the traditional bar codes that are used to identify objects

in retail stores. Bar codes, which use the Universal Product Code (UPC), cannot uniquely

identify objects—they identify a class of objects. They require line of sight for reading them; they

can be read only one at a time; they cannot be read if they are dirty or damaged; their

information cannot be updated. Unlike bar codes, RFID tags, which use the Electronic Product

Code (EPC), can be used to uniquely identify objects. RFID tags do not require line of sight for

reading them; they can be batch processed since many tags can be read instantaneously; they

are more durable; and their information can be overwritten and updated (Wyld, 2005, p. 12).

Since RFID tags are read by radio waves, they do not need to be swiped like magnetic stripe

cards.

From a technological perspective, RFID consists mainly of tags and readers. A middleware is

used to process the data from the tag. An RFID tag has an integrated circuit (IC) chip, which

contains the unique EPC data. The chip’s memory could be read-only (i.e. data cannot be

changed), read-write (i.e. data can be changed), or a combination of both. The chip is linked to

an antenna, which is a small coil of wires. The tag could be packaged in different forms and

sizes, depending on the function. It could be packaged in smart cards (e.g. identification cards

serving multiple purposes, credit cards that can be scanned instead of swiping, etc.), smart

labels (that can be attached to books, packages, etc.), disks (which can be attached to an object

with a screw), glass cases (for implantation in animals and human beings), and so on. The tags

could be as small as grain of rice (e.g. Hitachi’s mu chip). The tags could also be passive (which

have no power source, and are activated when they are in the vicinity of a reader at short

distance), active (which have a power source and emit radio waves continuously, so that they

can be read at greater distances), and semi-passive (which have a battery, but are activated

based on a sensor that automatically responds to an environmental stimulus such as

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temperature, movement, or vibration). Passive tags are typically used where they need to be

read at very short distance (e.g. e-passport, credit cards); active tags are used when they need

to be read at longer distances (e.g. electronic toll collection); semi-passive tags are used to

monitor environment (e.g. sense earthquake tremors, changes in temperature in a remote

location).

The RFID readers can be small hand-held devices that are portable or can be large and fixed. A

reader comprises of an antenna, transceiver, and a decoder. The range of the reader depends

on the size and efficiency of the antenna, and the power of transceiver. There could be one or

more antenna, depending on the desired read range. The RFID transceiver sends out radio

waves either on demand (in case of small hand-held devices) or continuously (in the case

of a fixed reader). If an RFID tag is in the transceiver’s active range, the tag’s unique code is

read by the reader. The radio frequency of the transceiver gives the intensity of the radio

waves for transmitting information—higher the frequency, the more powerful is the reader. Low

frequency (125–134 KHz) readers are used upto 18 inches; high frequency (13.553–13.567

MHz) are used for 3 to10 feet; ultra-high frequency (400–1,000 MHz) are used for 10 to 30 feet;

and microwave frequencies (2.45 GHz) are used for higher distances (Wyld, 2005, p. 20).

Typically, when a reader receives a tag’s signal, it passes that information to the decoder, which

then forwards the unique code for processing to the back-end system (e.g. looking up or adding

to a computer database).

RFIDs have gained much popularity in the private and public sector for supply chain

management, which is the tracking of materials and products from a supplier to manufacturer to

wholesaler to retailer to consumer. The principal goal of the supply chain management system

is to reduce inventory (i.e. shelf life), so that goods need to be moved down the chain in an

efficient manner. RFIDs enable greater visibility in the supply chain management since the

inventory of any particular node in the chain could be centrally read and managed. Wal-Mart

was among the early adopters of RFID in requiring its suppliers to provide RFID-tagged pallets

and cases to the distribution centers. The Wal-Mart could centrally monitor the inventory of the

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stores, and replenish goods in a timely way based on the demand of the goods in the store. The

consequent efficiencies with RFID implementation were expected to save Wal-Mart upto $8.35

billion annually (Wyld, 2005).

Several federal agencies have also undertaken RFID initiatives, the notable ones being the

Department of Defense (DoD), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Department of

Agriculture (USDA), and the Social Security Agency (SSA). DoD has a complex supply chain

management, with many domestic and overseas locations. RFID is used for logistic support

through fully automated visibility and management of assets, hands-off processing of materiel

transactions, and to streamline business processes. Since 2005, DoD has phased in RFID

tagging of pallets by DoD manufacturers and suppliers of shipments. FDA has required

pharmaceutical companies to use RFID to have better control over the prescription drug supply

chain. USDA’s National Animal Identification System (NAIS) envisages the management and

tracking of individual animals in order to trace and control animal diseases. RFID ear tags or

implanted devices are used in the NAIS for identifying large animals like cattle. SSA has been

using RFID since 2003 for its internal office supply store, wherein tagged items are scanned at

checkout for inventory management. A few state and local governments have also adopted

RFID for inventory management. Electronic toll collection is a prime example at the state and

local levels, wherein drivers do not have to stop and pay tolls at the toll booth. Overhead

readers in the booth automatically read RFID transponders in the vehicle, and the appropriate

amount is deducted from the transponder’s account. Hospitals use implanted RFID chips (e.g.

VeriChip) to monitor patient’s health (especially for senior citizens).

The use of RFID is not without controversy. The principal concern with government’s use of

RFID is privacy—that the big brother is watching every move. The concern is more acute when

RFIDs are used to track human movements or are implanted in human beings. Such fears have

precluded people from installing transponders in the car. A consumer group called Consumers

Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering (CASPIAN) has been at the forefront

raising awareness about the downside of implanting RFID chips by corporations and

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government. The founders of the movement call RFID as “spy chips” since they can invade

one’s privacy, allow snooping by others, and increase government surveillance (Albrecht and

McIntyre, 2005). Security is also a major concern since RFID tags can be read by readers for

illegitimate purposes. Thus credit cards and e-passports could be compromised with appropriate

readers that could eavesdrop and make unauthorized use. The National Institute of Science and

Technology highlighted four types of major risks with RFIDs: business process risks; business

intelligence risk; privacy risk; and externality risk (Karygiannis, et al, 2007). The report set

guidelines for security and privacy. These guidelines include: implementation of firewalls to

separate RFID databases from other databases in the organization; usage of encrypted radio

signals; authentication of approved users of RFID systems; shielding RFID tags and tag reading

areas to prevent unauthorized access; implementation of procedures for auditing, logging, and

time stamping to help in detecting security breaches; and disposal of tags and recycling

procedures to permanently disable or destroy sensitive data.

6. LOCATION BASED SERVICES

Broadly, location based services relate to spatial descriptions of persons or objects. These

services assist in determining precise geographical locations and describe the spatial attributes

of a jurisdiction. At its very basic, a location based service is a graphical map which represents

geographical boundaries (e.g. political, physical, climatic), linear elements (e.g. river, streets),

and point objects or living beings (e.g. buildings, people). Although maps have been in

existence for centuries, the evolution of computers and communication systems have

revolutionized the location based systems to enable spatial descriptions in real time (e.g. spatial

movements). The location based services have benefited government processes in several

areas, including natural resource management, health management, disaster management, law

enforcement, real property services, land management, and planning and economic

development. There are two major components of location based technologies in this respect:

16

the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the Geographical Positioning Systems (GPS).

GIS and GPS are two distinctive technologies—while GIS is oriented toward mapping a

geographical space, GPS is oriented toward locating an object or living being in the

geographical space.

From a technological perspective, GIS is commonly understood as “a system of hardware,

software, data, people, organizations and institutional arrangements for collecting, storing,

analyzing, and disseminating information about areas of the earth” (Dueker and Kjerne, 1989, p.

7-8). It helps manipulate, analyze and present information that is tied to a spatial location.

Fundamentally, GIS comprises of three data components: spatial, attribute, and raster. Spatial

data represent locations and shapes (i.e. polygons, lines, and points) of geographic features

(e.g. boundaries of census tracts, zip codes, counties, states, etc.). Attribute data (qualitative or

quantitative) provide the spatial characteristics that describe a geographical feature (e.g.

population of a jurisdiction). Raster data consist of images (e.g. aerial photographs). GIS

combines the three data to provide a graphical representation of geographical features. Several

attribute layers are combined to give a composite depiction of the feature. The power of GIS for

e-government is in the ease of condensing vast amounts of attribute data from various sources

into graphic visuals in order to display spatial relationships. Moreover, the GIS data can be

analyzed (e.g. topographical analysis of a site to achieve optimum drainage configuration;

forecast of hurricane paths) and queried (e.g. location of hospitals within a given distance from

an accident location) interactively. Lastly, GIS enables building “what-if” scenarios with

alternative data projections and can be useful for simulation. Graphic visuals like thematic maps

of population distribution can be manipulated on the fly to make complex data projections

understandable to both the lay people as well as experts (pictures speak a thousand words).

GIS technology has been refined quite significantly since the 1980s. Traditional desk top based

GIS has since evolved into Web-based GIS, so that spatial information is deployed over the

Internet. Web-GIS is more dynamic than a static map display. Unlike static maps, Web-GIS

allows for pan and zoom to obtain maps based on user defined parameters. It combines the

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three data components (which could be distributed across servers) with search and query

interfaces to provide maps and reports interactively. Thus, lay users with an Internet connection

can also access GIS, without having to go through steep learning curves or expensive GIS

software. Mapquest.com, for example, has become common for two dimensional route

mapping. Google Earth enables three-dimensional GIS, where users can fly over terrains

virtually. With mashups, Web-GIS is a powerful tool for real time mapping applications, like

traffic alerting systems (e.g. sigalert.com).

GIS has gained popularity across federal, state, and municipal governments to deploying Web-

based spatial information. The federal government has facilitated the use of GIS by developing

geospatial standards and by providing spatial and attribute data. For example, the Federal

Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) was established in 1990 as an inter-agency committee to

promote the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) for the coordinated development, use,

sharing, and dissemination of geospatial data on a national basis. FGDC develops the

geospatial data standards in cooperation with other public, private, and academic institutions.

Government organizations have also emerged as important sources of spatial, attribute, and

raster data. Geodata.gov purports to be a one-stop site for federal, state, and local spatial data;

many states also have geospatial data clearinghouses (Goodchild et al, 2007). U.S. Census

Bureau had originally developed the Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and

Referencing system (TIGER) for spatial data. The bureau has also emerged as the principal

resource for attribute data (population, housing, economic data). The Center for Disease Control

(CDC) uses GIS to better portray geographic relationships that affect public health outcomes

and risks, disease transmission, access to health care, and so on

(http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/gis.htm). DoD uses GIS in the millitary for intelligence gathering,

terrain analysis, mission planning, and facilities management. State and local governments

have increasingly adopted GIS for a wide variety of purposes. The uses include: land

management, transportation planning, parks and recreation, environmental monitoring,

infrastructure services, and promoting citizen participation. Many city and county governments

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make the public domain property data (e.g. transactions, property taxes, ownerhship) available

through Web-GIS. According to Kaylor (2005), over 60 percent of the municipal websites

surveyed in the Municipal e-Government Assessment Project (MeGAP) had “data rich, highly

interactive GIS features.”

In contrast to GIS’s mapping function, GPS is used to determine location in geographical space

using satellites. GPS consists of three segments: the space segment; the control segment; and

the user segment. The space segment comprises of the satellites that were placed in orbit by

U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) for military applications initially, but have been made

available for civilian use since the 1980s. A constellation of 24 satellites (called NAVSTAR) orbit

at about 12,000 miles above the earth and make about two orbits in a 24 hour cycle. These

GPS satellites emit two radio signals consisting of three bits of information: the pseudorandom

code (an identification code of satellite), ephemeris data (location of the satellite, sent

periodically) and almanac data (the status of satellite, current date and time, sent continuously).

The control segment comprises the master control (located in Colorado) and a network of five

ground stations located around the world. The ground controls monitor the paths of the satellites

and update the ephemeris and almanac data. The GPS unit consists of a receiver and an

antenna capable of reading the signals emitted by the satellites. The receiver essentially

determines its location (latitude, longitude, altitude) by calculating its distance from satellites.

The GPS unit requires at least three satellites in view to locate its position in two dimensions

and at least four satellites to locate in three dimensions (locating a point in three dimensional

space requires at least four distances from other known locations). The distance from a satellite

is calculated using the ephemeris data, with differential error adjustments based on the

pseudorandom code and the ephemeris data.

Since the original scope of the US GPS program was for military purposes, the DoD has

regulated its civilian use. For example, DoD used the Selective Availability (SA) feature of the

GPS to introduce random errors of several hundred feet into the civilian systems, so that the

errors can confound accuracy of long range missiles. The federal government disabled SA

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features in 2000 and discontinued the procurement of satellites with SA capabilities in 2007.

Yet, the DoD could restrict the GPS use in case of a national emergency. In a direct challenge

to the US GPS monopoly, the European Union and the European Space Agency began to

develop Galileo as a global satellite navigation system (GNSS) for civilian purposes. The

system, which is expected to be operational by 2008, will comprise of a constellation of 30

satellites. Several non-European countries, including China, India, Saudi Arabia have also

joined the program. The Galileo is expected to comprise of five navigation service groups

available worldwide: open service (available freely for mass market applications with reduced

accuracy); safety of life service (available for safety critical transport applications, with the same

accuracy as open service, but implemented on frequency bands reserved for Aeronatuical

Radio-Navigation services); commercial service (encrypted fee based services with high

accuracy), public regulated service (robust signals protected against jamming and spoofing, and

available during crisis periods; for government authorized applications, including police,

coastguards and customs officials); and search and rescue service (for quick reception of

distress messages from anywhere on earth, precise location of alerts, return link to reduce false

alerts). Galileo is also expected to be interoperable with the US GPS system.

The most common use of GPS is in navigation systems, such as ships in the ocean, airplanes,

and cars. GPS is increasingly used for land surveys since they yield more accurate results than

traditional theodolite methods. Metreologists use GPS is for weather forecasting;

seismographers use GPS for studying tectonic motions in earthquake studies. Combined with

GIS, objects can be located in real time on a map using GPS. Local governments use the

technology for dispatching first responder vehicles. For example, in case of a 911 call of a crime

event, the dispatcher can identify and dispatch the police vehicle nearest to the event. Tourism

oriented data (e.g. location of restaurants, recreational facilities) can also be accessed through

the integrated GIS/ GPS services.

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7. BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE

As identified in Section 2, advances in computers as well as communications technologies

enabled the growth in e-government services. Unlike computers, which are private goods, the

communications infrastructure is a public good. Hence, governments typically have a stake in

developing the infrastructure. Studies show that the communications infrastructure investments

are significant for economic growth and development. The telephone lines (e.g. copper wires)

form the basic infrastructure component for communications, but dial-up computer modems are

not sufficient in the rapidly evolving world of broadband requirements. Broadband refers to the

high speed Internet communications, which are typically faster than the 56.6 kilobytes per

second (kbps) offered by dial-up modems (FCC defined the first generation threshold of

broadband as 200 kbps). With the increase in demand of high bandwidth due to IP based

services, the demand for broadband infrastructure has escalated. According to the Pew

Internet’s 2007 survey, 47 percent of adults have broadband at home, up 5 percent from 2006

(Horrigan, 2007). While there is extensive coverage of basic infrastructure of telephone lines

and power lines (overhead or underground) across the country, the availability of more

advanced broadband infrastructure is uneven and yet to catch up. The catch up game is an

interminable one since the broadband technology is also evolving quickly. Technology

policymakers in the state and local governments need to be aware of the evolving technologies

to make judicious infrastructure choices.

The evolving broadband communications infrastructure includes both wired and wireless

technologies. Wired infrastructure is based on a cable connection (e.g. telephone, optical fiber,

or coaxial); wireless infrastructure is based on radio wave signals that do not require a physical

cable connection. Examples of wired broadband include Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), Cable,

Fiber to the Home (FTTH), and Broadband over Powerline (BPL). Wireless infrastructure

includes Wi-Fi hotspots, Ultra Wide Band, and Mesh networks. The choice between a wired and

wireless infrastructure is a paradoxical one for many local governments. Wired connections

have better QoS, but are less flexible due to the requirement of physical connectivity; hence,

21

extensive infrastructure has to be laid to enable such connections. Wireless connections are

flexible, but could have less QoS and be more prone to dropped calls and security lapses.

Wired infrastructure requires only marginal investments in urban areas where the infrastructure

may already have been installed; wireless infrastructure may be more advantageous in rural

areas where it is expensive to lay the wired infrastructure. Of course, the choices are not

mutually exclusive among the various wired and wireless systems; hybrid systems have also

evolved. Solutions for “last mile” problems (i.e. the final leg of connectivity to a customer from a

hub), for example, could be based on such hybrid systems.

Wired Broadband

DSL and Cable broadband build on existing copper wire connections of telephone and cable TV

respectively. The communications are based on transmission of electrical signals over the

copper network. Since this infrastructure already exists in most urban areas, additional

infrastructure investments are usually minimal. DSL and Cable are both widely available for

urban consumers at more affordable rates than other systems. The additional capacity in the

existing copper network is due to packet switching, which frees up space for routing more

communications. Routers, modems, and filters need to be added at the user end to separate

voice and data. DSL and Cable prevail the broadband Internet penetration—in 2006, DSL

constituted 50 percent of home broadband connections and Cable constituted 41 percent.

According to FCC (2007), the number of DSL and Cable lines increased exponentially from 4

million in June 2000 to nearly 53 million in June 2006. Theoretically, DSL and Cable could offer

speeds upto 10 and 30 megabytes per second (mbps) respectively; however, the actual speeds

are lower and reduce with additional users on the network at the same time. Although DSL and

Cable speeds represent significant improvement for data transfer, the QoS may deteriorate for

voice and multimedia services.

Unlike DSL and Cable, communications in optical fiber networks is through light signals, which

provides several advantages. Signal degradation and interference is less in optical fibers than

22

copper. Optical fiber cables are thinner than copper, allowing more lines in the same diameter

cable. Moreover, optical fibers provide broadband speed upto 10 gigabyte per second (gbps)

(the T-carrier lines and Optical Carrier lines). Installing optical fiber cables provide cost savings

over the long run due to the higher reliability and lower maintenance. Yet, optical fiber cables

have not become as popular as DSL and Cable. For, the copper wire networks are more

extensive and the initial costs of laying copper cables are lower. The number of optical fiber

based lines increased from nearly 0.4 million to about 0.7 million in June 2006 (FCC, 2007).

Two types of network connectivity are based on the optical fibers: Fiber to the Home (FTTH),

which delivers communication to the end user; and Fiber to the Curb (FTTC), which delivers to a

platform and the last mile could be served by other modes (e.g. DSL, Cable, or wireless

systems). According to the FTTH Council (2006), FTTH served 936 communities in 47 states by

April, 2006.

Broadband over Powerline (BPL) provides yet another prospect for wired broadband access

through the existing infrastructure network of electric power lines. When transmitting electricity,

power lines use a limited range of frequencies. BPL takes advantage of the unused

transmission capability of the power lines for communications, without disrupting the power

output. Hence, it is also called Power Line Communication (PLC). BPL is an emerging

technology, which can provide broadband speeds between 500 kbps and 3 mbps. FCC

identifies two components of BPL systems (NTIA, 2004, p. 1-1): Access and In-house. Access

BPL systems are the outdoor network of devices that use electrical power lines for transmitting

broadband data to, from, and within the geographic area. In-house BPL systems are the indoor

wiring and power outlets for networking within a building, and for connecting end-user devices to

the access BPL network. A basic BPL network is illustrated in Figure 1. Access BPL equipment

consists of injectors, repeaters, and extractors. BPL injectors (also, couplers) interface between

high speed optical fiber or other high speed broadband and the power lines (overhead or

underground). Repeaters are required at periodic distances on long power lines to keep the

signals from attenuating or distorting. Extractors provide the interface between the power line

23

carrying the BPL signals and the user’s building. The user could then connect a device (e.g.

computer, IPTV) with a BPL modem in a power outlet to have high-speed internet access. Early

problems with BPL have included radio interference over the utility line, which negatively affects

ham radio operators (American Radio Relay League, ARRL, protested against BPL

implementation with FCC). BPL implementation in the U.S. has lagged behind Europe due to its

peculiarity of power lines: unlike Europe, US utilities have differing standards of power systems

and grids. While European distribution transformers feed several homes (100 to 200), US

utilities typically have few (4 to 8) homes per transformer (Tongia, 2004). The number of BPL

based lines increased from nearly 4,000 in 2005 to a little over 5,000 in 2006. (FCC, 2007).

According to the United Power Line Council (UPLC, 2007), which is the FCC certified BPL

database manager, there were 35 BPL deployments across United States, ranging from small

pilot projects to large scale commercial deployments. These BPL deployments include

Cincinnati (catering to over 50,000 homes) and Manassas (catering to over 700 households).

BPL holds potential particularly for multihousing units (e.g. apartment complexes) where there

are scale efficiencies in using the power lines for providing Internet to several households.

[Insert Figure 1 around here]

Wireless Broadband

Unlike the wired communications infrastructure described above, wireless infrastructure does

not require physical cables for making broadband connections. Wireless communications are

based on radio waves, where frequencies emitted by radio base stations, towers, and radio

devices are read by wireless devices using antenna. Although wired systems make up the major

portion of broadband penetration, wireless services have emerged as a significant contender in

the market. Satellite and other wireless based lines increased from over 0.65 million in June

2000 to 23 million in June 2006 (FCC, 2007). According to CTIA-Wireless Association (2006),

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the number of wireless subscribers increased from 109.5 million in 2000 to 233 million in 2006;

about 12.8 percent of households in 2006 were wireless only. Wireless based communication

devices (e.g. cell phones, Personal Digital Assistants, PDAs) have also grown exponentially in

the 21st century. Government enterprises have increasingly adopted the wireless devices in the

work place—a Government Computer News (GCN) survey revealed that 86 percent of agency

managers use wireless technologies for conducting agency business (Walker, 2004). Thus,

wireless is a major technological development to contend with for e-government, both from

citizen and agency’s perspective. Wireless provides mobile Internet access to citizens and

government officials (e.g., coffee shops, cars); a single device can be used to make phone calls,

pay bills electronically, and access entertainment and data.

The transmission and reception of electromagnetic radio frequency is at the core of wireless

communications; hence, wireless infrastructure needs to address the management of frequency

spectrum. The FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration

(NTIA) share responsibility for managing the spectrum. While FCC manages the spectrum used

by individuals (e.g., garage door openers), private sector (e.g., radio and television

broadcasters), and public safety and health officials (e.g., police and emergency medical

technicians), NTIA manages the spectrum used by the federal government (e.g., air traffic

control and national defense). Generally, devices using a particular radio frequency require FCC

license or NTIA authorization; these devices are protected from interference since other devices

are prohibited from using the frequency. Unlicensed devices do not require such license or

authorization.

Wireless could be analog or digital. Analog refers to modulation (amplitude or frequency) of

sinusoidal radio wave forms for communications delivery and reception; cellular phones and

FM/AM radios are typically analog devices. Digital refers to binary (0 or 1) radio wave

transmission and reception. Digital wireless offers more advantages over analog: it can

accommodate more users (due to packet switching on channels), reduced background noise,

better sound quality, and more security. Moreover, digital wireless is IP based, so that it can

25

support Internet communications (Web browsing, emailing, etc.). Indeed, analog devices are

getting outmoded: from mid-February, 2009, analog television services will be terminated under

the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005. Contentious debates have

followed in the auction process and usage of the recovered analog spectrum (700 MHz). Yet,

the auction is expected to raise over $10 billion to be put into the Digital Television Transition

and Public Safety Fund. From an e-government perspective, the fund will pay for emergency

and essential services, such as public safety interoperable communications, a national tsunami

warning program, enhanced 911, and essential air-services.

Analog cellphones are also giving way to the 3G (third generation) digital mobile phones (e.g.

Portable Communication System, PCS phones). FCC discontinued the requirement of cellphone

providers to provide analog services from mid-February, 2009. Wireless companies have

already started to deploy broadband technologies on their mobile cellular networks operating on

licensed spectrum. Smart phones use the broadband for integrating voice (VOIP), data

(document), and Internet (Web browsing, emails). Newer 3G technologies, such as Evolution

Data Only (EVDO) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) provide wireless

broadband services at speeds ranging from 300 kbps to 1 mbps.

Wireless communications infrastructure has also significantly advanced from the traditional cell

phone infrastructure, where communications between two phones are enabled through radio

communication with a tower in the geographic area. In contrast to the analog cell phones, the

digital wireless could be short-, medium-, or long-range broadband devices. Short-range

Personal Area Networks (PANs) span about 30 feet (they comply with IEEE 802.15 family of

standards). For example, Bluetooth and Ultra Wide Band (UWB) are PAN technologies.

Bluetooth equipment use unlicensed frequency (2.4 GHz) and have speeds of upto 720 kbps;

they could be used for home security, streaming audio, ad-hoc file sharing. UWB uses low-

powered, pulse modulation (often exceeding 1 GHz) and can have much higher speeds upto

100 mbps; the higher speeds allow it to be used for wireless monitors and faster data transfer

between various devices. Medium range wireless is used for point-to-point communications upto

26

300 feet (they comply with IEEE 802.11 family of standards). Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) devices

(e.g. network cards used in laptops) are typically medium range. Wi-Fi hotspots are venues

equipped with Wi-Fi antenna, enabling access to wireless Internet; as of the writing of this

article, JiWire.com (2007), which tracks hotspots around the world, identified over 63,700

hotspots in the United States. Several mobile service providers use Wi-Fi hot spots to

complement their cellular services. Longer range networks are point-to-point or point-to-

multipoint that can span upto 30 miles. Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMANs) are such

long-range networks, which can provide last mile connectivity. WMANs are vendor specific or

comply with IEEE (802.16) standards and often use Local Multipoint Distribution Service

(LMDS) for data speed upto 155 mbps within a 2 mile range. A more recent long-range

technology is the WiMax, which are based on improved 802.16 standards. WiMax networks

employ Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) to provide data speed upto 75

mbps. OFDM, unlike LMDS, does not require line of sight for data transfer and can penetrate

through obstructions like buildings and trees. Thus, WiMax represents an improvement over

WMANs. Mesh networks represent another recent development in the long-range wireless

networks. They consist of several nodes (antenna) at short distances (i.e. there is no central

tower), enabling each antenna as an access point to broadcast at lower power with less

interference.

From a government perspective, the provision of medium-range and long-range wireless

infrastructure has gained significance. In an effort to increase digital connectivity for tourism and

economic development, several cities have provided municipal broadband through Wi-Fi, Wi-

Max, or mesh networks. The infrastructure is fully municipality-owned (e.g. Coffman Cove,

Alaska; Scottsburg, Indiana) or joint ventures with commercial operators (e.g. with Earthlink in

Philadelphia). Debates rage over whether or not municipalities should provide such wireless

services; industry advocates have argued that such services may be better provided by private

agencies (Gillett, 2006; New Millennium Research Council, 2005). Notwithstanding these

debates, deployment of city or region wide wireless services holds potential for e-government

27

processes, particularly for first responder services (e.g. police, fire, paramedics) and for field

work (e.g., on-site data processing by inspectors).

8. TECHNOLOGICAL PROSPECTS AND PROBLEMS FOR E-GOVERNMENT

The above review shows significant development in recent technological developments with

respect to e-government. Progress in computer and communications technology facilitated e-

government processes. E-government is generally considered as the services provided through

Web, over the Internet. Yet, other technologies are also of significance to e-government. Four

such technological areas were identified in this chapter. IP based services such as VoIP and

IPTV provide both voice and video communications enhancement. Sensor devices like RFIDs

are used for unique identification of objects. GIS and GPS provide location based services,

including mapping and location in real time. Broadband infrastructure—wired as well as wireless

—provides the backbone for e-government processes.

The above technological developments offer several prospects for e-government. Web based

government services provide information, interactivity, and transactions; they are also

transforming government organizations. Recent studies (e.g. West, 2007) show that Web

services are getting saturated across federal, state, and local government organizations. Yet,

there is much room for development with the evolution of Web 2.0 technologies. Blogs and

podcasts increase the capacity for public participation and discussion, and act as alternative

news forums. Since governments have vast amounts of demographic, geographic, economic,

health, agriculture, and other public domain data, they have the potential for becoming primary

sources for such data.

Although Web based systems have been at the core of e-government, other related

technologies have also facilitated e-government processes. Similar to Web services, IP based

services such as VoIP and IPTV are also based on packet switching technology. While the

implementation of VoIP and IPTV holds cost advantages for government enterprises, they are

28

particularly beneficial for organizations with call centers that have to interact with the public (e.g.

311, 511, 911 systems). RFID devices are used for inventory and supply chain management,

electronic toll collection, tracking animal movements, smart ID cards, and so on. GIS is a

powerful tool for managing land, environmental resources, transportation, and other services.

GPS is used for real time tracking and dispatching of first response emergency vehicles such as

police cars, ambulances, and fire tenders. Wired and wireless broadband infrastructure enables

better communications, and is particularly useful for delivering audio and video. DSL, Cable,

optical fibers, BPL provide high bandwidth connections; Wi-Fi hotspots (e.g. in airports, coffee

shops) and Wi-Max provide medium- and long-range wireless connections.

Integration of two or more of the above technologies holds prospects for enhancing efficiency of

e-government. Sensor networks, for example, combine the Web, sensors like RFIDs, GPS, and

wireless communications for several purposes. For example, SensorNet, based in Oakridge

National Laboratory, combines such technologies for high risk incident management (e.g. near-

real-time detection, identification, and assessment of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear,

and explosive (CBRNE) threats). SensorNet (http://www.sensornet.gov/) is aimed to provide a

common data highway for the processing and dissemination of data from CBRNE,

meteorological, video and other sensors in order to provide near-real-time information to

emergency management decision makers and first responders. The WaterWatch program of US

Geological Survey (USGS) similarly uses a network of sensors across the country to provide a

“real-time streamflow” map to track short-term changes in rivers and streams. The changes are

updated periodically and can be viewed in Google Earth. Mobile digital phones allow one to

speak over the phone, check emails, surf the Web, take photographs, and geocode (with GPS).

These multipurpose smart phones allow site inspectors and other field officials to conduct their

job on-site itself.

The application of the above technologies, however, is not unproblematic. Security and privacy

is a common concern in implementing the technologies. In Web based systems, while hacking,

snooping, worms, and viruses could compromise the system integrity, spam and phishing

29

emails could burden email inboxes. IP based systems are also prone to similar security

breaches. RFIDs are looked upon as “spy chips” that could invade one’s privacy. With the

spread of GIS and GPS systems, locative spam is expected to become a common phenomenon

(Scharl, 2007). Usage of Web based GIS also raise security issues, ranging from the privacy

concerns of individual citizens (e.g. Google Streetview that shows street level photographs in

Google Maps) to the national security of countries (e.g. Google Earth’s mapping of defense

facilities). Wireless devices are also prone to snooping and other security problems. Security

and privacy is of particular concern for e-government for two reasons. First, governments host

sensitive data, such as that related to national security, financial transactions, personal data,

etc. Second, government organizations could themselves misuse the data, unless laws explicitly

guarantee privacy of citizens and circumscribe the use of such data.

A second concern with interconnecting the different technologies is the issue of interoperability.

In this, the systems could be based on different standards or be proprietary. The standards of

legacy systems in government enterprises may be different from the new ones, or different

departments within the same organization may have different preferences, so that they may be

incompatible. Moreover, the evolution of competing standards could hinder interoperability.

Interoperability between proprietary systems is rendered difficult when the hardware systems

are not compatible, or software codes are not compatible (e.g. back-end databases that cannot

communicate with each other). The proprietary systems could create lock-in, e.g. iPhones do

not allow alternative carriers or other programs. Klischewski (2004) identifies two dimensions of

interoperability: information integration and process integration. He argues that interoperability

requires a guiding vision of integration and both technical and inter-organizational cooperation.

Technically, establishing open systems into which individual units can “plug and play” and

establishing standards across different units could facilitate interoperability. In this, the IP

standards have facilitated integration of data and voice (e.g. Web browsing, emailing, VoIP,

IPTV). XML and FGDC have become de facto standards for data sharing and geospatial

databases.

30

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Figure 1. A basic BPL system

Source: NTIA (2004)

Subscriber’sIn-House BPLModem + PC

Internet

DistributionTransformer

Low Voltage

Medium VoltagePower Lines

Fiber / T1

BPLRepeater

BPLInjector

BPLExtractor

AccessBPL

35